Mabel and the Bee
by marehami
Summary: Loosely inspired by the movie "Akeelah and the Bee" when Ford discovers that Mabel is a gifted speller he and the entire town of Gravity Falls coach her towards the ultimate goal of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
1. Secret Talent

"You missed a spot Stanley!" Ford shouted as he began rapidly dusting the coffee table in the living room.

"You should be thankful I'm cleaning at all sixer! Ya know I never make you clean the house for any of MY friends," Stan said as he maneuvered the vacuum cleaner under his beloved armchair.

"That's because all of your friends are hillbilly slobs who can't tell the difference between a trailer park and the Ritz," Ford explained.

At that moment Dipper and Mabel emerged from upstairs wearing their nicest outfits, dress clothes sent by Great-Aunt Janice, they really only kept them in the back of the closet for special occasions, so imagine their shock when Ford demanded they wear them for his friend's visit.

"Ah kids, finally, come help me move this furniture," Stan ordered.

"They will do no such thing Stanley! I don't want them getting their nice clothes messy! Speaking of which…get upstairs and brush your hair and comb your teeth! Wait….switch that…"

Stan took a deep breath, "Sixer…Number 1 I am not a child, Number 2 I don't even like the guy, and Number 3 I don't have real teeth to brush,"

"Gosh Grunkle Ford, I've never seen you so stressed…you must be excited to see this guy….what was it….Harrison…" Dipper started.

"Harrison Stuffybottom the Second…" Ford finished thickly.

"I can't wait to meet your friend!" Mabel said excitedly clapping her hands, "maybe he'll tell us embarrassing stories about you as a kid!" she giggled.

Stan couldn't hold back a chuckle, "Oh he's got an embarrassing story alright pumpkin! This dude was the only person who managed to-"

"Enough Stanley! It was over fifty years ago, surely to goodness he's moved on by now."

Before Dipper or Mabel had a chance to ask they heard the honk of what sounded like an extravagant car.

The four of them headed outside to find a stretch limo pulling into the dirt driveway.

"Oh God…." Ford braced himself.

Stan appeared to be getting just a little too much joy out of seeing his brother so uncomfortable.

A chaffer stepped out of the limo and opened the door to reveal a tall, thin, man. He looked much younger than Stan or Ford thanks to some black hair dye and what Mabel swore was botox, behind him stepped a child about Dipper and Mabel's age dressed identically to the other man.

"There's something weird about that kid, I can feel it…" Dipper whispered.

"Oh Dipper, there's something weird about _every _kid, it's normal to be weird," Mabel insisted.

"Yo H-Man! Looking good!" Stan said giving him a forceful pat on the back, causing him to wheeze.

"Stanley Pines…haven't changed a bit I see! And there's my academic inferior, Stanford!" he said looking at Ford.

"Academic Inferior?" Dipper asked confused.

"You must be really confused! My dad is the most inferior academic on this or any other planet!" Mabel demanded.

Ford gave her a proud smile as he ruffled her hair playfully.

"I'm sorry….dad…." the man started with a confused smile, "Well I'll be darned…Stanley, I'll admit that you were always the one I pictured knocking up some younger woman and ending up with kids…."  
"Stan's our dad too!" Dipper proclaimed.

Mabel wished that she had her cell phone on her, because the man gave a look that would have no doubt launched a billion memes.

"They are our great-niece and nephew originally, but we've adopted them," Ford finally explained.

"Well they appear to be chips off the old blocks regardless," Harrison stated, though not as compliment, "and I'll have you know my grandson Harrison Stuffybottom the Fourth is a chip off mine as well," he gave a twisted smile, "especially in the field of spelling, Stanford."  
"Fantastic," Ford mumbled.

"In fact, he just won his school spelling bee at the Uppity Academy for East Coast Gentlemen, and we look forward to similar results from the state contest, right Junior?" he said giving his grandson a glare.

"Yes Grandfather," the boy said robotically.

"His winning word was metastasize….remember that word Stanford?"

"I'll never forget," Ford lamented.

Mabel's eyes lit up upon hearing that word and rushed off leaving her family none the wiser.

"What's so special about that word Grunkle Ford?"

"Ohhh you haven't told your own son the story of your epic defeat!?" Harrison Sr. asked giddily.

"It's not among my favorite stories," Ford said sadly.

"Oh but it's mine! Your "father" here was up against me in our high school spelling bee….of course, most of the nitwits were out of the contest within three rounds."

"I misspelled cat k-a-t on purpose," Stan declared proudly, "even though everyone knows there are two t's."

Harrison Sr. rolled his eyes and continued, "But I couldn't get six-fingered Stanford out no matter what I tried. We went back and forth through nearly the entire dictionary until finally that glorious word metastasize came up and this egghead finally cracked. I went on to win the school bee, then the state bee, and finally became that year's Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion, and my son continued that tradition that my own grandson will follow. The Stuffybottom reign of spellers shall continue for generations and all because this so called know-it-all didn't know metastasize is spelled-"

"m-e-t-a-s-t-a-s-i-z-e" Mabel playfully chanted as she jumped her rope.

All eyes suddenly shot in her direction.

"Sorry…bad timing?" Mabel asked.

Before anyone else could say something Stuffybottom spoke up.

"Spell metonymy," he demanded.

Mabel smiled as she began skipping, "m-e-t-o-n-y-m-u-y,"

"weimaraner," he demanded, losing his temper fast.

"w-e-i-m-a-r-a-n-e-r" Mabel skipped.

Stan, Ford's jaws were on the floor while Dipper looked on full of pride.

Harrison Jr. looked almost impressed, but his grandfather was furious.

"Bunch of lucky guesses! Come along Junior…we must go! We've got work to do!"  
"But you just got here?" Mabel said confused as the limo speed away.

When they were gone Ford finally gathered the strength to ask, "Mabel…where on earth did you learn to spell like that?"

Mabel smiled proudly, "my dad and I used to play this game where he would find big or weird words in the newspaper or dictionary and I would spell them while jumping rope….it was so fun," she said fondly.

Ford suddenly got the widest smile, "Mabel, how would you like to play that game with me?"


	2. Let's Do This

"Spell auspicious Mabel,"

"A-u-s-p-i-c-i-o-u-s!" Mabel skipped.

"Wonderful dear! Let's see…ohh here's a tricky one! Spell ebullient,"

"E-b-u-l-l-i-e-n-t…you know it's funny, I don't even know what most of these words mean,"

"Well ebullient means zestful and energetic, so I suppose it's the perfect word for you!" Ford said playfully tapping her nose.

Mabel beamed; this was a lot of fun for her. Not only did it bring back wonderful memories of her beloved father, but it was nice to see Ford so excited to be sharing an activity with her. They spent plenty of time together, but every time they did it felt like someone had to compromise. They would often go back and forth when picking activities, and those memories were always fun, but it was still nice to find an activity that they both appeared to enjoy so much.

"Alright, let's try another word….how about parsimonious?" Ford said with a playful raise of his eyebrow, deep down he thought he had finally stumped her.

"P-a-r-s-i-m-o-n-i-o-u-s" Mabel spelled proudly.

"Correct! Stanley our little girl is a genius!" Ford said proudly picking her up.

"I could of told you that!" Stan said with a proud smile.

Suddenly the wheels in Ford's mind began to turn as if operated by a hyped up hamster, "Alright, so you are in the eighth grade…this means that if we want to compete at the national level and finally show up that no good jerk and reclaim the Pines family hon-"

Stan cleared his throat authoritatively, "now sixer, don't go getting like that…it's not Mabel's job to make-up for your-"

"But I want to do this Grunkle Stan!" Mabel interjected.

Stan looked at her shocked, "You….do?"

"Yeah! It'll be fun!"  
Ford practically jumped up, "it will be fun sweetheart! But it will also be a lot of work! Not only will you need to win your school bee, but then you will have to place at both the regional and state level, and then…the nationals in Washington D.C.!"

"Wow…that's gonna take a lot of winning…" Mabel said nervously.

"Yes it will, but I'll be there coaching you every step of the way!" Ford promised.

"Think of how proud dad would be if you make it all the way," Dipper said, getting excited himself.

"Now hold on…I'm not sure this is a good idea…Mabel may be a good speller, but she has other things to worry about; her friends, other schoolwork, making sweaters, and Dipper, your dad would be proud of you and Mabel no matter what."

Mabel looked conflicted, but like she still really wanted to try.

Ford knew enough about both Mabel and the nature of these spelling contests in general to know that the best way to ensure success would be to have her whole family behind her.

And Ford knew Stan well enough to know exactly how to do that, "you know Stanley…if Mabel and her talent make it far enough, you could always turn a profit."

"What?" Stan asked, unable to resist.

"Oh yes, the National Spelling Bee is a big deal, you could sell t-shirts, handbags, even bobbleheads.

Stan looked at the three expecting and pleading eyes staring up at him, and knew he was powerless to resist, so he might as well relent and try to provide Mabel the support that he knew she would need.

"Alright…let's show those Stuffybottom's what us Pines can do!"  
"PINES PINES PINES PINES PINES!"


	3. School Bee

"Spell doubt Mabel," Ford demanded.

"Grunkle Ford, that word is like crazy easy compared to the others you've had me spell this week."

"Well compared to the National Spelling Bee words this middle school spelling bee is going to be crazy easy, but you've still got to win it," Ford said fiddling with his tie nervously.

"She doesn't gotta win anything Ford, this is just for fun," Stan insisted. He knew better than anyone how competitive his brother could get, and wanted to do everything he could to keep things light for his niece.

"It will be fun…fun to win," Ford mumbled, "Mabel please spell the word,"

"D-o-u-b-t…" Mabel said, feeling plenty of it.

"You're going to do awesome tonight sis," Dipper said, giving her an encouraging pat on the back.

"I wish you would have entered too bro-bro….than our chance of winning would have been doubled.

"Yeah, why didn't you enter poindexter junior? You can spell right?" Stan inquired.

"Not as good as this one," Dipper said jabbing her in the side playfully, "besides…I would get stage freight standing up there in front of everyone…"

Mabel gulped hard, she typically didn't get stage freight, but she also typically didn't do anything academic on the stage either.

"Hey, we will all be out in the audience rooting you on like crazy pumpkin. You won't need our motivation though…you haven't missed a word yet!"

It did make Mabel feel better to know her beloved family would be in the audience.

When they arrived at the school the parking lot was only about 1/4th full.

"Looks like there won't be much of a crowd to make you nervous pumpkin," Stan assured.

"Yeah, I'm not shocked the crowd is small…this is a nerd contest after all!" Dipper teased.

"Any clue who else is competing Mabel?" Ford asked.

"I know Grenda is!" Mabel said excitedly.

"You'll cream her easy," Ford said with a smirk.

"I don't want to cream her…she's my friend," Mabel whispered.

"But you want to win right?" Ford asked.

"I guess…" Mabel muttered.

"That's not good enough Mabel! You have to want it with your whole heart, or you won't make it."

Mabel whimpered nervously, so Ford decided to soften.

"Just do your very best…for me alright?"

Mabel would do literally anything for her adoptive dad, so she slowly nodded.

Stan threw Ford a meaningful glare, he clearly didn't approve of some of Ford's coaching.

Ford hardly noticed, his head was too full of grandeur.

When they entered the school Grenda and Mabel instantly found each other and embraced and squealed. They were all getting ready to enter the auditorium when the Principal stopped Stan.

"Sorry Mr. Pines, but due to the nature of the competition we can't let you inside."

"What do you mean I can't enter? My daughter's competing!" Stan protested.

"Exactly Mr. Pines, we all know your…umm pension…for cheating, and can't risk you providing your daughter any assistance."

"What makes you think that I would even be _able_ to help her cheat? This is a nerd-competition, so you should be worried about my nerd brother!"

"Your brother doesn't have your…history, in this town…"

"You mean the history of saving everyone's b-u-t-t during the apocalypse?"

The principal stared down at his feet, "we are still in your debt for that, but I've been ordered by the superintendent to keep you out or we will have to disqualify your daughter."

Stan was about to use every swear word in his vocabulary, but Ford spoke up, "we understand sir…Stanley will just wait out here…" Ford gave Stan a pleading glance that he had every intention of ignoring, but then he looked his daughter in the eyes.

They were staring up at him pleading, and while Stan didn't fully understand why, he knew this was important to her, so he relented.

He ruffled her hair and grabbed a seat with every intention of sitting and watching the whole contest by the window.

Gravity Falls is a small tourist trap town, which means by nature everything else about it is small; the sports teams, the businesses, and the schools. It was because of this that the school spelling bee only had four participants; Mabel, Grenda, Pacifica, and a shy boy named Daniel who literally only showed up to receive an honorable mention ribbon after misspelling car with a k (Stan related to the boy on a spiritual level).

"Okay Grenda, your word is Gravel,"

"YOU MEAN HAVING GUYS DOWN ON THEIR KNEES BEGGING?" Grenda's boisterous voice echoed through the tiny auditorium.

"No Grenda…that's grovel, I want you to spell gravel."

"G-R-O-V-E-L" Grenda spelled regardless.

When she was dinged Candy cheered loudly for encouragement, Mabel started to cheer loudly, but Ford shot her a no-nonsense glance and she decided to just clap politely.

It was just down to Mabel and Pacifica. Ford became certain that this would set some kind of record for the world's fastest spelling bee, but he underestimated Pacifica's skill (and Mr. Northwest's desire to win).

The two of them went back and forth for hours. Mabel would spell a word correctly, then Pacifica, and back and forth like two great tennis players.

Finally the announcer gave Pacifica the word "bobbin".

Her face turned red as she started to get nervous, "umm may I have it in a sentence...please?"

"At the party we went bobbin for apples."

Pacifica began to sweat, it was such a simple slang term, not the type her private tutors had quizzed her on.

"Ummm bobbin is spelled….b-o-b…" Pacifica froze. Was there another b?

Preston Northwest noticed his daughter's nerves and after looking around him to make sure no one was watching he began mouthing B in an exaggerated fashion.

"b-i-n…bobbin," Pacifica finished.

The announcer was about to turn it over to Mabel when they heard the door to the auditorium swing open.

"THAT NO GOOD DIRTY NORTHWEST CHEATED! YOU JERKS WANTED TO KEEP ME OUT OF HERE TO KEEP MY GIRL FROM CHEATING BUT YET YOU LET THIS SLUG IN AND HE CHEATS HE MADE THE LETTERS WITH HIS MOUTH I SAW HIM!"

Preston's face turned red as an apple, but he tried shaking it off.

"The old man doesn't know what he's talking about!"

"Sir…did you help your child cheat? This is serious business…" the announcer said glancing at him in a way that said he was cornered.

Preston wanted to lie, but his smooth tongue couldn't force him to say the words so instead he said, "Your quite right it's serious! My daughter has studied too hard! She knew that word!"

"No daddy, I didn't," Pacifica confessed.

Stan just gave a smug smile.

The announcer looked shocked but quickly said, "I'm sorry Ms. Northwest, but you are disqualified….which means the Gravity Falls Middle School spelling champ is Mabel Pines!"

Dipper and Stan instantly rushed to hug her proudly, while Ford stood and applauded. He was truly thrilled, but he had a feeling the next steps would be even more challenging towards achieving his goal.


	4. Why I Spell

"That trophy sure is a beaut sis!" Dipper said admiring his reflection.

Mabel playfully pushed his face out of the way to admire her own reflection, "that's better!"

The two of them caught a case of playful giggles, relieving Stan, at least even with all the excitement the kids were still overall carefree about the whole ordeal.

"I can't believe Pacifica confessed to cheating…she probably could have gotten away with it…" Dipper said thoughtfully.

"She knew it was wrong just like I did," Stan gloated.

"Hahaha I never thought I would see the day where you thought cheating was wrong Stan," Dipper laughed.

"Hey! Cheating is fine when done properly….Preston was being lazy about it! Besides Stan Pines can cheat all he wants, but anyone tries to cheat Stan Pines and his family has got a rude shock coming."

"We're lucky that you did catch it….I was afraid for a moment that she would win it all…"

"Second place wouldn't have been so ba-" Mabel started.

"It would be bad for me Mabel," Ford shot back, making Mabel quiver.

Ford tried to soften, "we'll just need to make sure you are prepared for the regional bee."

"Okay Grunkle Ford," Mabel whispered sadly.

Once they arrived home, Dipper wanted to lighten Mabel's spirit, "C'mon sis, let's find a place for that fancy trophy in the family trophy case!"

"It will be nice to donate something to the case that isn't covered in glitter!" Mabel giggled.

"Ford and I will be in soon, just give us a second!" Stan called out.

Ford rolled his eyes, knowing he was about to get a scolding from Stan…deep down he knew he had it coming, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"You wanna tell me what the hell has gotten into you?" Stan started.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about…." Ford said looking at his feet.

"Don't play dumb sixer…You know good and well what you are doing, and I'm telling you right now that if it doesn't stop then this spelling junk will."

"Stanley you can't be serious! You know how important this is to me-"

"I knew it! You're _using your own daughter to get what you want!" _

Stan then said something that knocked Ford off his high-horse.

"I watched you tonight sixer, and I didn't see the man that decided to adopt those kids with me last year. The man I've worked with to give them the best life we could, and the man who promised to stay and love them with me….all I saw tonight was Filbrick,"

Ford was hurt, but he deserved it, no one could bring him down to earth quicker than his twin.

"I just…I remember how disappointed he was in me after losing that bee in middle school. I know that you spent years thinking that I was the favorite, but in those early years, when you did all those sports…and he would never miss a game or anything that you did….that spelling bee was the first time in fourteen years he noticed me, and I blew it…I just thought that….oh I don't know what I was thinking…I'm a horrible father….I'm sorry…"

Stan softened and put a supportive hand on his shoulder, "you aren't an awful father…you just got a little worked up, it happens to the best of us, but I ain't the one who needs an apology you know?"

Ford sighed, "think she'll ever get tired of forgiving me?"  
Stan smiled, "Mabel? Nah…she's too loving, now me on the other hand…."

Ford chuckled and jabbed his brother in the side playfully before heading inside.

Mabel was admiring the trophy in the case. She was surprised at how good it looked in there among Dipper's academic awards. She knew that she was awesome and vital and special to her family and friends, but it felt good to feel truly academically accomplished.

She suddenly felt a six-fingered hand on her back. She looked up and smiled at her adoptive father, who knelt beside her.

"Mabel…I never did tell you how proud I am of your performance at the bee this evening."  
"I know you are, and you'll be more proud after I win the other contests," Mabel responded.

Ford felt his heart shatter, "no sweetie….there is no way that I could be any prouder of you than I am right now, and there's not a thing that you can do to make me more or less proud of you. I am proud of you because of who you are on the inside. My kind and beautiful and smart daughter, if you don't ever want to spell again you don't have to. My love and pride for you will never change no matter what, I double pinky-promise," he said wrapping her pinky with his own and extra finger.

Mabel gave him a tight and relieved hug, "and you never have to do anything for me to be proud and love you, cause I already am,"

Ford smiled as he realized how much healthier the love in this family was to the love of his and Stan's original family…he didn't know what he had done right to deserve it.

"But if it's okay with you…I w'anna keep spelling, pride and love are great, but victory is still sweet."'

Ford laughed in spite of it all, "and it's what _you_ want to do sweetheart? I want this to be all your decision…the moment you want it to stop it will stop alright?"

Mabel smiled, "all right, but I kind of don't want to stop until those Stuffybottoms are beat, and I can't do it without a coach, so until I want it to stop, will you be my coach?"

Ford nodded through tears of pride.


End file.
